Robert Jones

The earliest surviving record of Robert Jones is from 1597 when he graduated BMus from Oxford. At that time he must already have been writing the songs that appeared in his ‘First Booke of Songes and Ayres’, London, 1600; and his standing in the London music scene must have been considerable since one of his madrigals was included in Morley’s ‘Triumphs of Oriana’ of 1601 . Over the next ten years six collections of his ayres and madrigals were published and dedicated to some of the most influential patrons of the time . . . Robert Sidney; Henry, Prince of Wales; Robert Cecil; Mary Sidney; etc. With such connections one wonders why more details of his life are not known.